Many multi-story buildings use elevators to transport people and objects between floors of the building. People who work in tall buildings, for example, often ride in elevators several times during each workday as they arrive at work, attend meetings on other floors, go to lunch, depart for the day and/or for many other reasons.
Modern elevators are often scheduled and controlled by computing machinery for efficient operation. Nevertheless, many inefficiencies continue to occur. During a typical trip to or from the upper floors of a tall building, for example, many (if not most) elevator occupants will experience delays as the elevator stops to pick up additional passengers. In many cases, the elevator will stop for additional passengers even if the elevator is already full, thereby unnecessarily wasting the current occupants' time.
Although some attempts have been made to detect elevator occupancy based upon weight, weight-based determinations can be misleading. If several passengers are lighter than average (e.g., a group of children), for example, the total weight of the elevator would indicate that capacity remains even though no space is available for additional passengers. Similarly, if a passenger has a relatively large amount of baggage or other bulk, the weight of the car will not provide an accurate estimation of the current capacity that is available. As a result, the elevator will make unnecessary stops for additional passengers even though there is no space to accommodate those passengers. These unnecessary stops can create aggravation amongst passengers on the elevator as they are delayed. Moreover, the unnecessary stops are an inefficient use of the elevator itself, thereby creating additional delays for all others who are waiting for the elevator on other floors.
It is therefore desirable to create systems, devices and processes for more efficient control of one or more elevators operating within a building. These and other features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.